Hydrocarbon-producing wells often are stimulated by hydraulic fracturing operations, wherein a servicing fluid such as a fracturing fluid or a perforating fluid may be introduced into a portion of a subterranean formation penetrated by a wellbore at a hydraulic pressure sufficient to create or enhance one or more fractures therein. Such a subterranean formation stimulation treatment may increase hydrocarbon production from the well.
Once hydrocarbon production has slowed from a particular fractured area, it is often desirable to find and exploit additional reserves of formation fluid. Restimulation operations in horizontal wells are becoming increasingly attractive as a method to add reserves and increase field production rates. Currently, restimulation operations can be performed by pumping self-degrading particles (diverters) into a wellbore to bridge off existing fractures. In some instances proppant can then be pumped down to induce new fractures across a large pay interval. Unfortunately, there can be a limited effectiveness of such diverters if too few or too many are pumped into the wellbore adjacent existing fractures. It is difficult to know the effect of the diverters added to a particular well until after the restimulation operation is complete.
Further, pumping diverters into horizontal wellbores can sometimes lead to the creation of sand dunes through the horizontal wellbore section. These sand dunes can bridge across the wellbore section, redirecting the flow of fluid in inefficient and unpredictable ways. The sand dunes often form in the middle of a restimulation operation, thereby affecting the remainder of the restimulation operation as well as later wellbore treatments.